Sunday, August 24, 2014

NESNA and the Skateboard Coalition

The Skateboard Coalition recently
received a request from the parks representative of the Northfield East Side
Neighborhood Association (NESNA). NESNA wanted the Coalition to support their
request to the City of Northfield for a sound study on the proposed skatepark
in Old Memorial Park. A recent Northfield
News story quotes my email to the chair of the Parks and Recreation
Advisory Board (PRAB) in response to NESNA’s request:

We neither support
nor oppose a sound study. We simply decline to partner with NESNA in calling
for one. Given NESNA’s history of unrelenting opposition to the skate park, it
is far from certain that they would be a good faith partner in this effort.
They have shown no willingness to support the skate board park in any way, so
it’s understandable that the coalition would be hesitant to support them in
calling for a sound study.

In a response to the NESNA parks
representative, I suggested that the Coalition might have been more inclined to
support NESNA’s request for a sound study if NESNA had been more supportive of
the Coalition’s efforts to build a skatepark. I suggested that NESNA might have
conducted a neighborhood fund drive for the skatepark, which would have demonstrated
the genuineness of his claim that NESNA sought to work together with the
Coalition. The NESNA representative responded: “It seems odd that you are
asking us to support your efforts while declining to support ours.”

This exchange raises at least two
questions: has NESNA been supportive of the Coalition’s efforts, and has the Skateboard
Coalition been responsive to the concerns of neighbors?

In three years’ of emails from the
parks representative to the NESNA email list, I found many calls to attend
meetings of the PRAB or the City Council to express concern over the skatepark,
but I found none calling for expressions of support. There were none that
presented the case for a skatepark or discussed how the community might benefit
from a skatepark. The NESNA website, in fact, cites a 2008 poll conducted by
the neighborhood association: “Of all the possible amenities in the park (swing
sets, trails, community gardens, etc.), ‘skate park’ received the lowest
support: one vote.” A 2012 email to the NESNA list stated: “Recent written
input by NESNA members showed overwhelming opposition to siting a skatepark
within Old Memorial.”

Although NESNA officially claims
“overwhelming opposition” to the skatepark in the neighborhood, a neighborhood
fundraiser in April raised nearly $2,000 for the Skateboard Coalition in a
single evening, and numerous neighbors of Old Memorial Park have approached me
to express their support. It is clear to me that there is a diversity of
neighborhood opinion about the skatepark that has not been accurately
represented by NESNA.

Has the Skateboard Coalition been responsive
to the concerns of neighbors? Let me review the evidence by looking at three of
the concerns typically raised by NESNA: site, size, and noise.

Site. NESNA opposed siting the skatepark in Old Memorial Park, and
in 2008 presented a formal petition to the PRAB and City Council expressing
that opposition. To his credit, the NESNA parks representative recognizes why
skateboarders find Old Memorial an attractive location for a skatepark. In an email from
September 2012, he writes (about Old Memorial and Riverside Parks): “It’s
probably accurate to say that these parks are desirable to skateboarders for
the same reasons they are desirable to the neighborhoods: they are nice, green
places to be, and they feel more integrated in[to] the City than Babcock Park.”

This is true: skateboarders, like
all of us, are social beings. They like to feel that they are a valued part
of the community. They want to have positive interactions with neighbors, and
to have people watching them, and watching over them, as they skate. They do
want the skatepark to be integrated into the City, not marginalized as it would
be at Babcock Park.Throughout this long process, which began in 2006, the youth in the Skateboard Coalition have also been models of polite and responsible civic engagement. This was acknowledged in April 2013, when the Skateboard Coalition was chosen to receive the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative's "Making a Difference" Award, "for exceptional efforts to positively impact the lives of Northfield youth." To me, this speaks highly of the Coalition's value to the community as a whole, and of the positive presence they will be in the Old Memorial Park neighborhood.

In 2012, the City Council approved
Riverside Park as the site of the skatepark, with Old Memorial as an
alternative if soil conditions in Riverside were unfavorable for construction
of a concrete skatepark. When soil borings indicated that the skatepark could
not be constructed in the preferred site in Riverside, Old Memorial became the
final site of the skatepark.

But where in Old Memorial? The Skateboard Coalition
began looking at a site near the south east corner of the pool building. But NESNA,
concerned that this was too close to residences on Prairie Street, “recommended
placing the park (if it ended up at Memorial) between the solar panel
installations, where there is enough space for an 8000 sq. ft. park.” Although
this precise location between the solar panels is not being considered, it is now
likely that the site of the skatepark will be immediately to the west of the
pool, further from residences. The Coalition supports this site if its somewhat
less favorable soil conditions can be remediated without too much additional
cost.

The possible location of the skatepark in Old Memorial Park in 2013 planning documents. The yellow rectangle represents a 10,000 sq. ft. skatepark.

The possible location of the skatepark in Old Memorial Park in 2014 planning documents. Note that the yellow arrow on site to the west of the pool indicates the possibility of further adjustment to the site. The skatepark pictured is 4,000 sq. ft.

So, in the matter of siting, the Skateboard Coalition has been
sensitive to the concerns of neighbors, and supports a site within Old Memorial
Park that will address those concerns and is similar to NESNA’s own
recommendation.

Size. The Skateboard Coalition initially envisioned a 10,000 sq.
ft. skatepark. In a September 2012 email, the NESNA parks representative wrote:
“We feel that neither Riverside Park nor Memorial Park is large enough to
accommodate a 10,000 square foot skate park. However, in a pinch each location
might be large enough to accommodate a skatepark of some 4,000 square feet.”

The Skateboard Coalition is now
supporting the construction of a 4,000 sq. ft. skatepark in Old Memorial Park.
Although the master plan for the skatepark includes a Phase II that
would increase the size of the park to 10,000 sq. ft., Phase II would more than
double the cost of the park, and isn't attainable in the foreseeable
future. Currently, Phase I is the only skatepark under consideration.

So, in the matter of size, the Skateboard Coalition has been sensitive
to the concerns of neighbors, and has scaled back the skatepark to a size that
NESNA said would be acceptable.

Noise. Much of the concern about skatepark noise arises from the
temporary skatepark in Riverside Park in 2012, which provoked numerous
complaints about noise from neighbors living in the Village on the Cannon.

The temporary skatepark consisted
of metal equipment on an asphalt surface. On its website, NESNA states: “An
asphalt surface with steel modular equipment would be, by all accounts, the
loudest possible combination.” In
response to the problem of noise generated by metal equipment, NESNA recommends
concrete construction: “The skate park industry and many park boards recommend
high-density, smooth, seamless concrete. This is much quieter than pitted
surfaces, such as standard concrete, or worse: asphalt.”

The Skateboard Coalition has always
acknowledged the noise generated by metal equipment, and has always intended to
construct a permanent skatepark with concrete to reduce the sound to acceptable
levels. The current design is for a concrete skatepark.

So, in the matter of noise, the Skateboard Coalition has been sensitive
to the concerns of neighbors, and is raising funds for a skatepark constructed of
sound-reducing concrete, as NESNA recommended.

The Skateboard Coalition has
consistently shown consideration for NESNA’s concerns about the skatepark. The
Coalition has followed NESNA’s recommendations on the size and siting of the
skatepark within Old Memorial Park, and enthusiastically supports their
preference for high-quality, sound-reducing concrete construction.To me, NESNA’s request for a sound
study seems like an attempt to move the goal posts after previous concerns have
been addressed, and to create yet another obstacle when the skatepark is
finally ready to move into the design and construction phase. NESNA might have corrected
that impression with a genuine show of support for the skatepark, as in the
past the Coalition has shown a genuine willingness to address the concerns of
neighbors.
It is, however, a positive development that, in his latest email to the NESNA list, the parks representative mentions that "many more contributions [toward construction of the skatepark] will be needed, and the Coalition is planning to move into higher gear on the fundraising front once planning is done." He adds: "We will let you know about fundraising if and when we are informed about it." I would only note that I did, in fact, send the parks representative detailed information on how to make a donation to the Coalition, but he declined to include it in his email. Instead, he implied that he had not been informed of any fundraising activities.Finally, he encourages recipients of his email who support the park to let NESNA know their opinions: "If we don’t hear from you, we can’t represent you." This, at least, is encouraging. I'm looking forward to seeing if in the future NESNA will be more representative of the diversity of opinion in the neighborhood, voicing not only concern, but also support.